Vaximom: Guggie’s at it again

She’s back, with more kids and badder than ever! Congratulations, Vaximom, on the birth of baby boy number three.

Voices for Vaccines published a first hand account of Amy Parker’s experience of growing up unvaccinated. This piece was so utterly compelling that it managed to go viral in a number of days.It was also so interesting, informative and well written that it unnerved a number of outspoken anti-vaccine advocates and ultimately caused them to get their panties in a twist. They then posted rebuttals and deconstructions and all that shit, some of which sounded persuasive but was, in reality, same old anti vaccine rhetoric cleverly dressed up – dressed up in hippie scarves, that is.
One of my “favourite” anti vaccinators is Guggie. Sigh. She posted her own account of growing up unvaccinated. She is a self professed Crunch-Meister, and in my experience, it’s those ones who love the title being foisted onto them from others too. They need the world to see them as Crunchy. It’s an identity. Well, of a sort. Despite claiming that she wasn’t raised to be different, the post reads otherwise. Guggie explains that she grew up with a Crunchy Mom. Yes, capitalized. It’s her title. She’s special. At least, that’s what she wants us to think. One of Guggie’s many strategies is using language that makes her appear an authority on a subject. It is very manipulative. Being Crunchy makes them “special.” It makes them “different.” She speaks of the oddness at seeing her mother use a crib (gasp!) “Since of course we were a big co-sleeping family.” OF COURSE YOU WERE. ALL SPECIAL FAMILIES ARE CO SLEEPING. Not like the emotionally bereft mothers who coldly place their babies in the infant jail every night.
Guggie attempts to counteract Amy Parker’s negative account of growing up unvaccinated, afflicted by preventable diseases through no fault of her own, by presenting us with a different account of an unvaccinated childhood. One where children roamed freely, unencumbered by heavy metals, toxins and the like. One where children slept in a family bed, were homeschooled and birthed without assistance. She mentions having all her childhood illnesses as a rite of passage. None of those diseases had any lasting effects on her or her siblings. Which is all well and good, except that is not the reality for everyone. Babies die from Pertussis. Guggie says, speaking of her husband as his family that

“…they still got through it simply and calmly, without hospitalization or taking scary photos of red-eyed, crying children,”

implying that those who warn against the seriousness of Pertussis are scaremongering and overdramatic.
Guggie was the pawn in her mother’s journey to Crunchidom. Guggie was the guinea pig. The one her mom made all her mistakes with. Did you know Guggie was vaccinated? Quell horreur! Also, Guggie is VACCINE DAMAGED. Guggie freely admits to being brain damaged. She may even have had low functioning autism.I don’t know about you, but it really concerns me that she throws this autism self diagnosis around so flippantly.Parents I know with autistic children love their children beyond belief, but admit how damn hard it is sometimes. They will promote autistic awareness and acceptance and strive for better understanding but they do NOT wear their child’s autism like a badge of honour, as a means to get attention or to frighten people into a certain way of thinking.
It baffles me how Guggie has so many followers. Her writing is glaringly manipulative. I mean, come on. There are holes all through her posts – some are even internally contradictory: growing up unvaccinated then claiming to be vaccine injured, anyone? But these followers swallow it and keep following in step without question. It’s a bit frightening.
The post is peppered with “probably” “who knows” and broad generalisations, speaking about the neighbourhood children as “noses draining green snot, on antibiotics every month.” I mean, how would she know who was on antibiotics and who wasn’t? She speaks of the difference at achieving milestones between vaccinated and unvaccinated children. Again, claiming knowledge about children that she doesn’t know. She claims her children sit up at “3-ish months, walk at 9 months.” This is the biggest load of boo-hockey I’ve ever heard. Sitting at three months? By that logic, my poor vaccinated toddler should be so delayed because of his vaccinations that he will still be in Pampers in college.
There is a photo of her, looking like a normal toddler, until I read the caption, which had me rolling my eyes so far back that I could see my own brain. It says “I’m on the left there, typical vacant face after vaccine injury. My partially vaccinated sister is on the right.” Vacant face? My toddler makes the same face when he’s pooping. Or watching Peppa Pig.
Look, the fact of the matter is that Amy Parker’s wildly successful post on Voices for Vaccines has spooked the anti vaccination crowd, particularly Guggie. My personal opinion is that she is smarting and pissed off at not thinking of this title herself. I can just see her in her yurt, surrounded by children, some hanging off a nipple, as she arranges wildflowers…trying to come to terms with the fact that someone else thought of this before she did.

Vaximom is is a mother to two three beautiful boys who has taught countless other beautiful children the value of critical thinking and the scientific method. She spends her free time debunking sloppy thought and scientific denialism in order to make the world a safer, smarter place. Her facebook page is a riot!

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10 comments on “Vaximom: Guggie’s at it again”

I’m not sure why people believe someone as obviously unreliable as Guggie, either. Her habit of silencing counter points might help with that, but really, getting advice from her is no better than getting it from Jenny McCarthy: both do not have the qualifications, reject evidence, and can easily be shown to say things that are inaccurate or flatly wrong.

UHG that really gets my goat. She’s a full-on manipulative lying liar. It’s hard to decide whether she KNOWS she’s lying through her teeth and is intentionally spreading misinformation, or if she’s really that freaking deluded. My fully vaccinated son sat up at 3 months, walked at 8 months. BUT THAT VACANT LOOK ON HIS FACE WHEN HE WATCHES YO GABBA GABBA HAS ME CONCERNED. Except not, because he’s a kid and kids zone out sometimes. It saddens and infuriates me that some children will grow up being told they’re “damaged” because they’re wired differently. It frightens me that these parents are beating their conspiracy theories into their childrens heads. You’re a wonderful writer, autismum, and I very much enjoy your posts. You are strong in the face of ignorance, and your children will benefit from your level-headedness (if that’s a word) and compassion. /end

I am ashamed by it but I admit, I used to read her after my daughter was born. But after my daughter was born, my hormons were through the roof for a long long time and I blame that “veil” over my eyes and brain. Then it was raised a little bit with time as my rationality was fighting back. So I think, at least that’s my theory, that the culprit was the postnatal state of “other mind.” I really can’t believe it now, looking back at it. It makes me mad when I think of it.

I see your 9 months and raise to 7, walking unassisted through the living room, bottle fed and fully vaccinated too (the oldest of a friend of mine – she had a movie, I would not have believed it otherwise).